Der Spiegel: Turkish embassies pursuing Erdoğan critics in 35 countries


Date posted: April 1, 2017

Turkish government has been spying on its own citizens in 35 countries with the help of its diplomatic outpost, according to German weekly magazine Der Spiegel.

“The diplomatic cables contain information collected by Turkish diplomatic outposts in 35 countries,” said an article on the magazine on Friday.

Der Spiegel has become the latest of media outlets to document spying activities involving Turkish government recently.

The government-backed espionage targeted supporters of the Gülen movement most as the article underscored: “The result is a more than 100-page compendium of suspected enemies of the state around the world — an imposing document that provides evidence of global espionage activities against suspected members of the Gülen movement.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put the blame on the Gulen movement for the July 15 coup attempt.

Embassy officials document the organizations in which Gülen supporters are active and the media they write for, the magazine said. Among the countries that Turkish government’s long arm has reached to are Japan, Mauretania, Sweden, Tanzania, Australia, Kenya, Denmark, Mongolia, Germany, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium.

“The request to compile the files came directly from Ankara. On Sept. 20, 2016, the Turkish government’s religious agency, Diyanet, sent out an order asking” for detailed reports about organizational structures, activities and educational institutions of the movement,” read the article.

As a result of such pressure, parents in many countries have since pulled their children out of Gülen schools out of fear they will be subject to abuse from other members of local Turkish communities or that they will be banned from re-entering Turkey, Der Spiegel underlined.

“We need to apply legal means to crack down on the spying structures of the Turkish embassies and organizations,” Austrian Green Party politician Peter Pilz told the magazine.

Meanwhile, the article also stated that Turkish-funded mosques play a crucial role in having placed Erdogan opponents under observation. “Several imams are believed to have spied on members of their congregations and six have been withdrawn from Germany after the spying allegations emerged. There are similar suspicions of mosque associations in 37 other countries.”

Source: Turkey Purge , March 31, 2017


Related News

A New Report In Sweden Reveals Erdoğan Orchestrated July 15 Coup In Turkey

Last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey is nothing but a false flag orchestrated by Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayip Erdoğan and his henchmen to create a pretext for a mass persecution of critics and opponents in a state of perpetual emergency, a new detailed study titled ‘July 15: Erdoğan’s Coup’ by Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) concluded.

Pak-Turk schools: Parents urge government against transferring administration to Erdogan-linked organization

“All the Turkish teachers and administrators have left Pakistan and the schools are being run by Pakistanis,” said one of the parents Syed Amir Abdullah. He added that the government still seemed hell bent on ruining these institutions by handing them over to an ‘infamous organisation’ which has no experience of running them.

The next phase in Turkey’s political violence – third and coming coup could be the most violent

It has now been almost three months since the failed coup in Turkey. The events of July 15 were predictable, but they nevertheless mark a watershed in modern Turkish history. Still, it would be a mistake to view the coup as a single event. Turkey actually experienced two coups, but it will be the third and coming coup which could be the most violent and might very well cost Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan his life.

Welcome to the Republic of Paranoia

Since conflicting with the secularist segments of society in the Gezi Park events, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has taken on a paranoid mentality that tends to relate all developments that are against the AKP government with some form of conspiracy against it. As a result of this paranoid outlook, the AKP government has now gotten itself into a conflict with the Gülen movement. It is arguing that the Gülen movement is working in conjunction with foreign forces to harm the government.

Purge-victim businessman sent back to prison a week after stomach cancer surgery: son

Hacı Boydak, a Kayseri-based Turkish businessman, has been put in solitary confinement only one week after he underwent a cancer surgery, according to his son.

Today’s Zaman celebrates sixth anniversary

BÜLENT KENEŞ On Jan. 16, 2013, Today’s Zaman’s sixth year will be complete. Since the very day this paper launched it has exerted great effort to promote the demilitarization and democratization of Turkey with the hopes that it will transform into a more transparent country governed by the rule of law. In this context it […]

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Pro-gov’t daily claims White House held special session on Gülen

Fethullah Gulen Condemns the Assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey

Abant Platform calls for ‘respect for sacred’ in Africa meeting

American students volunteer for Kimse Yok Mu aid campaign

Opposition deputy seeks answers on gov’t ban on Kimse Yok Mu

Turkish schools important for northern Iraq’s future

Turks fleeing post-coup reprisals find shelter in Pittsburgh

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News